Maryland and Duke – One Last Time

It was a great goodbye.

A pulsing, intense game with all the overtones of history to be a classic.  If you had not been witness to the rivalry, it was as if you could take in this one game and get a sense of what had come before.

Maryland, as a team, has been using Duke as a bell-weather for years.  Duke, even in the periods in which the Terps had beaten the Devils, went out of their way to say “not our rivals”.

For those that have very short memories, Maryland beat Duke the last two times these team have met.  For a twist of fate, you could have made it three in a row.  Charles Mitchell did the best impression he could of Joe Smith (who made his shot in the lane) and/or Buck Williams (who was viciously fouled with no call made) to add his name to list of game-ending heroes for the Terps.

Coach K (all this time later I still can not spell his name) had some mild things to say of the rivalry. At least I think he finally admitted there was a rivalry.

As Freddy from Boca has said, ESPN will push for Terps v Devils to be the marquee game of the ACC-B1G series.   Bruce, My radio partner, has maintained that there is “no way that Duke will ever play Maryland again in a regular season game”.  I will side with Freddy on this one.  I write this as much as a fan as a watcher of ESPN.

The four letter network will smell ratings gold in Dukies and Terrapins.  Next time in College Park.